Winter Wonderland Bird Walk @ Irvine Regional Park
Sunday, January 25, 9AM-11AM
$10
Led by Rita Robinson, we will pause frequently, listen for songs and calls, appreciate, identify and photograph native birds, including winter visitors.

Bird Spotlight:  Acorn Woodpecker
The Acorn Woodpecker makes Irvine Regional Park its year-round home. They drill the softer bark of California Sycamore trees and palm trees in order to stash acorns for later feasting.

Even though they are abundant at Irvine Park, they’re unusual because they are not like any other woodpecker. They are a communal species, which means they live, work and eat together as a group inside a tree cavity.

The females make their nests together, sit on their eggs together and share feeding the young.

You can tell the male from the female, even though they both have red feathers on their heads. The female has a black band between the red and white feathers of her face. It looks like a headband!

Acorn Woodpeckers also use their long, termite-seeking tongues as a shock absorber to protect their brains from the impact on their skulls when they are pounding holes in bark to create an acorn granary.

Learn more about the Acorn Woodpecker and other amazing birds, including winter visitors like the distinctive Cactus Wren, at the Winter Wonderland Bird Walk. Our walk will begin near a huge acorn granary!